First-Person

Thaili ChiMBA 10

The Haas international treks are designed to appeal to a wide range of students. But that left Thaili Chi thirsting for more real estate-specific experiences. So, as co-leader of the China trek, he arranged mini-treks to give students the chance to visit firms in their particular area of interest. That's how he and other real estate students wound up visiting one of China's biggest real estate developers and touring some of its sites.

"One of my first real estate memories is a birthday I spent planting trees in a project my parents were developing. No wonder I wasn't interested in real estate at first. But, in my job at Deutsche Bank, I started to see some of its rewards. I like the idea of being able to walk by a building and know that I played a part in its development, that I helped families find a home."

"Haas has more real estate electives than most other business schools. Plus, being able to take classes at the law school and the school of architecture meant that we learned every aspect of the business. The emphasis on corporate governance and social responsibility was a reminder that money isn't the only metric for success. Choosing classes and taking advantage of all the different speaker series was like eating at an endless buffet."

"It was great to take my first real estate elective at the end of my first year. It provided a coherent framework for understanding how every step of the real estate investment process affects profitability. A class project gave my team the opportunity to apply our academic learning in a real-world situation by identifying a property and preparing plans for its development."